I wanted to post some thoughts of my experience with Fishing in ARR thus far, and maybe post a small guide on how to get it to lvl 20 pretty quick. It took me about 4 hours to go from lvl 1-20 on my own, with no assistance from others or tips from websites. I don't know if it was intended to lvl it up this fast; maybe I just got reeeeeeeeeally lucky with my choice of bait/locations. Never really written a guide before... well, this might not even be considered a "guide" per se. I dunno. In any case, the NA/EU data centers just went down, so I thought I'd also kill some time contributing a little ^^

Let's see... where to begin...

(Again, these are just my thoughts from my own personal experiences. I may very well be way off the mark from what others have done. In fact, if anyone has a better or easier method, please let me know ^^)

Well, the Fisherman's guild is located at Fisherman's Bottom in Limsa Lominsa. You just talk to the guild receptionist there, same as you would when unlocking any other class. Fishing itself is pretty self-explainatory - You are given 4 actions; Bait, Cast, Hook, and Quit. You select your lures with bait, throw your rod into the water with Cast, and once you get a tug/bite, reel it in with Hook. You can buy different Bait from the Fieldcraft Supplier NPC in Hawker's Alley in Limsa, or from a Merchant & Mender in pretty much any Sanctuary (Swiftperch, Aleport, etc) The Bait these NPCs offer can differ. For example, Hawker's Alley NPC sells basic Lugworms, Moth Pupa, Crayfish Balls, and Pill Bugs... Whereas the Merchant in say Swiftperch sells Goby Balls, Bloodworms, Midge Baskets and Rat Tails.

Bait can only be used in certain types of water. There are 3 different types from what I can see so far:

OceanRiverFreshwater

In the actions and traits section, however, it mentions something about Sand/Dune and Sky Fishing. I've no idea what this is about, so I wont really comment on them... but it sounds awesome! :D

I also HIGHLY recommend buying 10-20 Jack-o-Lantern Foods from the Independent Culinarian at Hawker's Alley. This food Increases Perception by 6%, as well as gives a 3% bonus to EXP per catch. More on perception later, but very useful.

Your first quest received is to collect Lominsa Anchovies (5 of them I believe) and turn it in to the NPC back in the guild hall. These can be caught right outside of the guild on the docks, using the Lugworms given to you when you registered. Very simple quest.

You can continue fishing on said docks until lvl 5, when you receive your next quest which tells you to collect 3 Harbor Herrings. This is basically an introduction quest to using different Bait, as you will be required to use the bait given to you by the quest NPC to catch these (Pill Bug), not the Lugworms. Again, they can be caught in Limsa Lominsa and its surrounding Ocean-type waters pretty commonly once you switch to that Bait. Getting 3 should take no time at all.

Rinse and repeat until level 10, where the next NPC quest is to catch an HQ Princess Trout out by the Nym River in Middle La Noscea. This is where the Perception stat starts coming into play. Perception increases your chances of obtaining an HQ item while gathering. The more perception, the higher that chance goes up. I recommend you always keep your field gear upgraded to your level, especially those pieces that have perception. Catching this HQ Princess Trout is easy (In fact, I caught one on the very first try), and you only need one. Grab it and return to quest NPC.

Now this is where I would imagine different Fisherman choose different ways of leveling up, because at this point you can safely move out of Limsa Lominsa and explore different fishing locations. Where others go... who knows, but for me (And the quick EXP), this is how I did it: That last quest you just finished should have given you 99 Bloodworms. After you finish it, I recommend going to Upper La Noscea (Directly North from Aleport). This zone contains lvl 20-22 mobs, one of which (Wild Wolf) aggros, so be careful. Shortly into the zone, you will come across a freshwater/river fishing spot which is inhabited by Stoneshells. Use your Bloodworms here, and you will catch Lvl.15 River Crabs every single time (At least I think every single time; Out of like 80 casts, I never received anything other than these). They give amazing exp, especially if you catch them HQ (Which I did quite a bit actually). Getting to lvl 15 should be a breeze this way. (And on a personal note, I have a very strong feeling that these crabs will become useful for other crafting professions. They might go well on the AH. I dunno, something about the name I guess... reminds me of FFXI. Might be worth holding onto and selling/crafting yourself. Just a feeling though).

At lvl 15, a new quest becomes available. You gain access to Fishing Holes, which grant you more fishing options/exp. Your quest is to catch 5 Navigator's Dagger from a Fishing Hole at The Brewer's Beacon in Western La Noscea. You will need the Rat Tail, which can be purchased from Swiftperch. Directly behind the lighthouse at the target location is a small accessible area which is perfect for fishing. Cast from there and you shouldn't have much problem making the quota. Return to quest NPC for your reward.

At this point, even more options become available due to Fishing Hole access. Again, I'm not sure what others did, but the following method got me from lvl 15-20 in approx. 45-50 min:

Purchase 99 Midge Baskets (Swiftperch NPC), and travel to The South Shroud. This is an EXTREMELY dangerous area for your current level, so try to put your Stealth action to good use. Your target area is a small Freshwater area just south of "The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak" Dungeon. Using the Midge Baskets, cast from the small ledge on the east corner of that little pool area you'll come across. Aggroing mobs never go there, so you can fish in peace. You will be catching 2 different kinds of fish - Nettle Stonefish and River Sphinx. Both are level 20 fish, and because this is a Fishing Hole, it nets you bonus exp, which stacks with the 300% (or 303%) that you receive when catching HQ versions. The exp is amazing! ((Added: It is also easy to obtain level 20 simply by fishing at the Fishing Hole from the previous quest at The Brewer's Beacon. The EXP there is also good. ))

Back at the fishing guild, you will receive your level 20 quest from the Qiqirn NPC. This quest is to catch 5 Warmwater Trout in Oakwood, which is located in Upper La Noscea. This quest, I would imagine, is a sort of introduction to using Lures. Lures differ from Bait somewhat in that they are not consumed with each use and can therefore be used repeatedly. The recommended Lure to use here is the Crow Fly Lure, which can be obtained 2 ways that I know of - The first is to have it crafted by the Goldsmithing profession (Lvl 20 I believe), or the easier method is to simply purchase some from the Junkmonger NPC located in Oakwood. It should be noted that many lures cannot be purchased this way, and that some are Craft-exclusive (which I would imagine leads to catching rare fish that would be otherwise unobtainable). As for the Warmwater Trout target locations, there are a couple of options, but the easiest is to simply head just Northeast of the aforementioned Junkmonger NPC. You will see a river that is, quite frankly, impossible to miss. Put your stealth action to use, as you will come across quite a few mobs that will aggro. Cast your Lure from that riverbed and you should be able to attain your quota - The main cause of concern this time around, for me anyway, was avoiding aggro. Return to NPC once you have obtained all 5 trout.

Edit: I am currently putting fishing on hold for a short time until I have gotten my SCH to level 50 (Currently standing at level 47, so it shouldn't be too long). Once I obtain 50, I will devote much more time into Fishing, and to the completion of this guide. ^^

Did you do the lvl 20 quest?? It will take to the oakwood, where you have to catch warm water trouts with some kind of fly lure. It's a little more hairy in there, as it was the first time I had to go invis to fish the area I needed fish from.

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MJK wrote:

Is this a test? It has to be. Otherwise I can't go on. Draining patience. drain vitality. this paranoid, paralyzed vampire act's a little old.

Did you do the lvl 20 quest?? It will take to the oakwood, where you have to catch warm water trouts with some kind of fly lure. It's a little more hairy in there, as it was the first time I had to go invis to fish the area I needed fish from.

Nope, not yet. Like 5 mins after hitting 20, the data centers went down. Sounds fun though hehe. I'll definetely go for it when I'm able to get back on. :)

I'm back on, but I dunno if I want to continue due to the lvl 20 cap they have right now. I guess i'll update this after I do the quest when the cap is removed, but until then this should hopefully help to get to 20 fast enough. Other methods can be used as well of course, this whole thing is just a suggestion :P

I did a more see the world and cast your line in as many places as possible thing. Nice guide though.

I'll have to look into the Jack O'Lantern thing when the game starts. I did notice on my fishing log, that every place I fished at (which was a lot of places) I could never complete the fish list on the bottom of that map. I always had ONE fish left to pull out and only completed it on one zone, Central Shroud I believe. Very annoying for my mild OCD. Same with the fishing areas on the maps. I'd get 4/5 or 6/7 and never could find that last spot, though I figure it was in the bad part of the neighborhood with the lvl 40s mobs.

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"We're getting close, real close. And now for some more bad news... Ready?" -- Egg Shen

Tried every bait you can get for my level. I think it is just a rare drop and probably from a spot I am missing on my map, or maybe you need a really high level bait for that last fish, or maybe Mooch. IDK, but definitely not mad since it just makes me fish even more. Now what the **** am I going to do with two bag full of fishes? I do the cooking thing, but I am soooo far behind in it comparatively.

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"We're getting close, real close. And now for some more bad news... Ready?" -- Egg Shen

I'm pretty sure that those left out fish on the log relate to the Mooch skill as well. That leaves us pretty much stuck in the water until they remove the lvl cap, since Mooch is a lvl 25 skill. It doesn't make sense though... why make a lvl 1 fishing area such as Limsa Lominsa have on its list a fish that cannot be obtained until lvl 25? Or maybe its not related to fishing at all, and theres just some lure that we havent found yet (possibly a crafted-only lure) which cannot be purchased at NPCs? Hrmmm....

For 12-20 I went to Swiftperch and bought Rat Tails. Then you head back down to that lighthouse (name escapes me at the moment) and fish up those Navigator's Blades or whatever they were called. HQ were giving me 3500+ XP, regular over 800, and the other crabs and oysters are great XP as well. It's perfectly safe with no aggro at all.

IDK if it's the same, but I found that all my hunting logs ended with 9 lists @ level 2 - 19 was the last hunt, so I couldnt complete the level 2 logs in OB. I'm guessing that it is due to the level cap as well. I didn't get any gathering done, but I wouldn't be surprised if the above have it right, and the last is a >20 get. Only other option I guess is a rare/super-rare catch of some sort.

I'm pretty sure that those left out fish on the log relate to the Mooch skill as well. That leaves us pretty much stuck in the water until they remove the lvl cap, since Mooch is a lvl 25 skill. It doesn't make sense though... why make a lvl 1 fishing area such as Limsa Lominsa have on its list a fish that cannot be obtained until lvl 25? Or maybe its not related to fishing at all, and theres just some lure that we havent found yet (possibly a crafted-only lure) which cannot be purchased at NPCs? Hrmmm....

I was able to craft fishing lures as a level 20 goldsmith recipe, so it's possible. I can't remember exactly what it was called, some kind of fly lure.

Did you guys notice a difference in the rod "creak" sound based on the kind of fish you hooked? I thought it was different for HQ versus not, but it might be fish size or type (Oyster, Crab, Fish, etc). I know there were different sounds for sure, just couldn't come up with a correlation.

I love fishing, just wish there was more involvement... like having to do something once a fish bites the line so that there is more immersion and I feel like I actually have an impact on whether or not I land the fish, rather than just simply pressing 1 button. IIRC there was a little mini-game for fishing in FFXI that I really enjoyed. I'm not saying they gotta make it all taxing or w/e to take away from the relaxing some people like when you fish, but just something a little more involved.

I like it much better than XI. When you get into the legendary fish in XI, it becomes real work and is incredibly difficult at times. I like something I can do to relax and surf the web while doing. I can see your point, but for me at least I want fishing to be less involved than XI.

Did you guys notice a difference in the rod "creak" sound based on the kind of fish you hooked? I thought it was different for HQ versus not, but it might be fish size or type (Oyster, Crab, Fish, etc). I know there were different sounds for sure, just couldn't come up with a correlation.

There were several different sounds that I didn't fully explore. Each lure type (fly, spoon, heavy, etc) had a different sound + animation.

But yes, some "creaks" were louder than others. Some I barely noticed.

I like it much better than XI. When you get into the legendary fish in XI, it becomes real work and is incredibly difficult at times. I like something I can do to relax and surf the web while doing. I can see your point, but for me at least I want fishing to be less involved than XI.

Guess we're just different people with a difference of opinions :D so we can agree to disagree!

I like it much better than XI. When you get into the legendary fish in XI, it becomes real work and is incredibly difficult at times. I like something I can do to relax and surf the web while doing. I can see your point, but for me at least I want fishing to be less involved than XI.

Guess we're just different people with a difference of opinions :D so we can agree to disagree!

- The casting animation varies depending your bait. - The hook and reel animations vary depending on the fish you've caught. - The Special Fishing Hole in Middle La Noscea (Don't wanna say where in case you wanna find it yourself), was allowing me to set records for Lakes. So add that to Rivers, Freshwater, and Ocean. - I was able to catch all the fish in some of the low level rivers in Middle La Noscea, however the final fish was usually much higher level than the fishing hole. For example, I caught a level 18 fish in a level 1 fishing hole. - I thought it was pretty fun :)

I have concerns about the role of a fisher within the game. To quote Yoshi-P in the Live Letter part VIII;

Quote:

However, due to the fact that this system is simple, please understand that you will not be contributing to the economy despite being a Disciple of the Land. The fishing system of FFXIV: ARR is there to have fun challenging and interacting with the nature found throughout Eorzea.

I not quite sure what to make of this statement because of what it implies the novice. It's saying basically you contribute nothing, gain nothing with this class. So where is the incentive to fish? A way to pass the time isn't enough. I'm passing the time by playing the game already. Is there any information about what fishing offers a player and the community I am missing?

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"The game is fun as **** to me and I don't need epeen DPS parsers to feel like a bad ****. " ~Curt Schilling (A.K.A Wyndwraith)

There has been a lot of debate about that statement, and frankly we don't know enough yet. Fish themselves NPC for very little gil, so perhaps that's what he's referring to. I'm not sure if they're used for cooking or other things or not yet, I did hit 20 in P4, but just kept everything I caught for now.

There has been a lot of debate about that statement, and frankly we don't know enough yet. Fish themselves NPC for very little gil, so perhaps that's what he's referring to. I'm not sure if they're used for cooking or other things or not yet, I did hit 20 in P4, but just kept everything I caught for now.

I remember seeing a few cooking recipes with fish as ingredients. I didn't look to see if they could be placed with retainers for sell on the board however. Well, good I am not missing any information as there isn't any to be had yet.

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"The game is fun as **** to me and I don't need epeen DPS parsers to feel like a bad ****. " ~Curt Schilling (A.K.A Wyndwraith)

I love fishing in games when it isn't a complicated mini-game. I don't mind the mini-game for other crafts but fishing to me should be relaxing. Had fun leveling it to 15 and using a lot of the fish I caught for culinarian. Like how I can just hook up my ps3 controller and kick back and relax while listening to my fishing playlist on iTunes(FFX, FFX-2, FFXI, soon ARR OSTs)

@Wint I did notice in XIVDB that there was an item "Shark Oil" used in a very few high level synths. I think its a level 43 Alchemy synth. I would be very surprised if there is no market for the two types of shark needed to make it. I'd also be surprised if its the only recipe other than bait that needs fish for it.

@Magilicotti The reason to do it by the way is enjoyment. Its a game , not a job. Not everything you do has to have a financial reward.

Edited, Aug 23rd 2013 10:54am by oleum

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oleum Old Nick Sargantanas Merlon Wytarensyn - not there yet but probably Balmung

@Wint I did notice in XIVDB that there was an item "Shark Oil" used in a very few high level synths. I think its a level 43 Alchemy synth. I would be very surprised if there is no market for the two types of shark needed to make it. I'd also be surprised if its the only recipe other than bait that needs fish for it.

@Magilicotti The reason to do it by the way is enjoyment. Its a game , not a job. Not everything you do has to have a financial reward.

Edited, Aug 23rd 2013 10:54am by oleum

I know, I was saying that if Yoshi was referring to the NPC price of fish only, then I still think fishing could have an affect on the market. I can't imagine that there won't be Food dishes with fish in them, and this Alchemy recipe you found.

There has been a lot of debate about that statement, and frankly we don't know enough yet. Fish themselves NPC for very little gil, so perhaps that's what he's referring to. I'm not sure if they're used for cooking or other things or not yet, I did hit 20 in P4, but just kept everything I caught for now.

I did do some lvl40 fishing and the fish sold for more than 1 gil. Some were double digit gil prices, but still nothing amazing. Some fish are used in recipies, but not to the extent of botanist and miner (all drops are used).

The fish are used for cooking.. i was a tad confused when the npc sold no fish for the items i had to make. Atleast 1 item per lvl bracket needed fish from fishing. Also 1-5 cooking needed fish so this is the only prof i ahve foudn that needs other proffs below lvl 20.. O.o

Really hope they see the error of their ways, this is a gathering class why wouldn't it have any kind of effect on the economy. We're talking cooking recipes that involve fish, alchemy for fish oils into potions and whatever else in alch. **** I don't even see why fish couldn't be used for rare weapon/armor/jewelry crafting or maybe something as trivial as a vanity hat or something equally silly requiring HQ fish to make it from.

I mean I can kind of understand if it has no monetary value or use as a crafting component then it deters fishing bots, which to me just sounds like a lazy excuse for not doing their job. Because I've heard reports already in beta phases of people seeing teleporting mining bots which would have a **** of a lot more effect on an economy then fishing ever would.

Hope they change their minds and patch recipes soon until then i'll level it regardless see yall in game ~silvyrmist, balmung server

Did you guys notice a difference in the rod "creak" sound based on the kind of fish you hooked? I thought it was different for HQ versus not, but it might be fish size or type (Oyster, Crab, Fish, etc). I know there were different sounds for sure, just couldn't come up with a correlation.

There were several different sounds that I didn't fully explore. Each lure type (fly, spoon, heavy, etc) had a different sound + animation.

But yes, some "creaks" were louder than others. Some I barely noticed.

I paid way too much attention to this. It deals with the size of the fish for sound and you actually can see the difference in effort your character puts into reeling in. I was really quite impressed by that level of detail. The HQ quality may actually be shown through the movements of the rod but I can't be for sure on that.

There has been a lot of debate about that statement, and frankly we don't know enough yet. Fish themselves NPC for very little gil, so perhaps that's what he's referring to. I'm not sure if they're used for cooking or other things or not yet, I did hit 20 in P4, but just kept everything I caught for now.

Fish had been in a few of the better low-level recipes. I don't think it's a wasted skill economically, but I also don't think we'll reap Gil in the thousands. But that's fine for me -- I love it so far.

@Magilicotti The reason to do it by the way is enjoyment. Its a game , not a job. Not everything you do has to have a financial reward.

Edited, Aug 23rd 2013 10:54am by oleum

Oh, I am quite aware what their intent is regarding fishing in 2.0. Yoshida has stated as much. Doesn't mean I have to agree with it. I just have to accept it as what they desire fishing to be.

Enjoying trying to complete the fishing log. Even though at level 18, still missing 1 fish from completing lower limsa... cannot figure it out yet. Tried during all weather and time of day. I've noticed a couple of spots in zones are the same way. Bait issue I suppose. Which seems a level thing. I believe so far the lvl 15 baits catch the same lower level fish the lvl 10 and lvl 5 baits did.

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"The game is fun as **** to me and I don't need epeen DPS parsers to feel like a bad ****. " ~Curt Schilling (A.K.A Wyndwraith)

@Magilicotti The reason to do it by the way is enjoyment. Its a game , not a job. Not everything you do has to have a financial reward.

Edited, Aug 23rd 2013 10:54am by oleum

Oh, I am quite aware what their intent is regarding fishing in 2.0. Yoshida has stated as much. Doesn't mean I have to agree with it. I just have to accept it as what they desire fishing to be.

Enjoying trying to complete the fishing log. Even though at level 18, still missing 1 fish from completing lower limsa... cannot figure it out yet. Tried during all weather and time of day. I've noticed a couple of spots in zones are the same way. Bait issue I suppose. Which seems a level thing. I believe so far the lvl 15 baits catch the same lower level fish the lvl 10 and lvl 5 baits did.

Mooch. It will fill in a lot of those missing fishing log map lists. I am working on the 11-20 acheivement zones and man it is daunting.Got Nos done, now I gotta get Thal and Shroud. I am crying on the inside at the next tier with 1k fish per area. I am not talking about the tier after that... that is just a void I don't want to think about.

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"We're getting close, real close. And now for some more bad news... Ready?" -- Egg Shen

So I played with fishing starting as a lvl1 (in JP, not being able to connect to my NA fisher). Some observations:

Each zone has a general level, but each fishing spot has it's own level. In Lower La Noscea, I found lvls 1-15 so far. Fishing with bait at your lvl at a hole just above your lvl is good exp.

I noticed each fish in the fishing log has a counter: 1/99. What happens when you get to 99?

Well the achievement log has the first tier of lvl 0-10 which you need 40 fish, then second is 11-20 needing 300 fish out of there, etc. I still haven't figured out the correct interpretation, however... you can fish in higher level fishing holes with lower level baits/lures (not too low obviously) and catch the lowest level fish out of it for very good xp. I need to sit down and actually write down the lvl of the waters I was fishing in along with the baits, but I know I was fishing in the level 30's part of the Shroud after you run up the big treetrunk. I was using midge baskets which are lvl 15 and I was catching Ala Mhigan which I think are 20 or 25 now.

I haven't noticed a 1/99 mark in my log. I'll check if I ever HQ a login.

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"We're getting close, real close. And now for some more bad news... Ready?" -- Egg Shen

For 12-20 I went to Swiftperch and bought Rat Tails. Then you head back down to that lighthouse (name escapes me at the moment) and fish up those Navigator's Blades or whatever they were called. HQ were giving me 3500+ XP, regular over 800, and the other crabs and oysters are great XP as well. It's perfectly safe with no aggro at all.For 12-20 I went to Swiftperch and bought Rat Tails. Then you head back down to that lighthouse (name escapes me at the moment) and fish up those Navigator's Blades or whatever they were called. HQ were giving me 3500+ XP, regular over 800, and the other crabs and oysters are great XP as well. It's perfectly safe with no aggro at all.

I tried this today at level 12 and I get a message I sense something below but unable to tell what it is. Maybe they made it higher level? I'm going to go back in a level or two and try again.

For 12-20 I went to Swiftperch and bought Rat Tails. Then you head back down to that lighthouse (name escapes me at the moment) and fish up those Navigator's Blades or whatever they were called. HQ were giving me 3500+ XP, regular over 800, and the other crabs and oysters are great XP as well. It's perfectly safe with no aggro at all.For 12-20 I went to Swiftperch and bought Rat Tails. Then you head back down to that lighthouse (name escapes me at the moment) and fish up those Navigator's Blades or whatever they were called. HQ were giving me 3500+ XP, regular over 800, and the other crabs and oysters are great XP as well. It's perfectly safe with no aggro at all.

I tried this today at level 12 and I get a message I sense something below but unable to tell what it is. Maybe they made it higher level? I'm going to go back in a level or two and try again.

Huh that's weird. I haven't fished since Phase 4, trying to get to 30 and unlock WHM first, but I might have to do a bit tonight.

I tried this today at level 12 and I get a message I sense something below but unable to tell what it is. Maybe they made it higher level? I'm going to go back in a level or two and try again.

Interesting. I get that message at random spots around the map as well. Wonder if they have to do with quest areas.

Remember those areas for later, I think they're just well above your level (not sure how far). For example, my L10 fisher can't fish the Salt Strand in Lower La Noscea. I get the "you sense something below" message. My 43 fisher can. I forgot to write down the level, but it's near the 40s.

When I bring my 43 fisher to a 45 or 50 fishing hole, I can fish there (some lower level fish despite the hole level), but I do lose fish on occasion.